Vegetarian Indian Falafel Recipe

Day 61.

I love Greek Falafel and I love Indian food...so, when I got black-eyed peas in my CSA box, I dreamed up Indian Falafel. I'm excited about the possibilities here. I'm serving them in naan instead of regular flatbread. I'm drooling a bit thinking about it.

Indian Falafel IngredientsRecipe inspired by Crockpot Falafel

10 oz. Black-eyed peas (cooked dry beans is what I used, you could sub canned)

1/2 onion, chopped

2-3 Tbsp. Curry

2 cloves minced garlic

1 egg

2 tsp. House seasoning blend (4 parts kosher salt : 1 part each black pepper and garlic powder)

juice from 1 lime (about 1/4 C)

1/2 to 3/4 C bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)

DirectionsThis is simple, seriously. Put everything but the bread crumbs in the food processor, pulse until it forms a chunky, but smooshable falafel mixture (almost like meatballs). Add the breadcrumbs to make them ...um, ballable? Yeah, so they can form up. Pulse it up. Take that container to your crockpot, squirt olive oil into the bottom of the crock.

Ball up about 10 or so "falafel" balls (about golf-ball sized). Drop em into the crock (you can also turn them in the oil to ensure browning, but I just squirt a bit extra on top).

Cook on high for 2-5 hours (I usually do 3-3.5). The falafels are done when they turn brownish-golden. You can flip them halfway through the cooking time if you feel like it, but they will brown on top even without flipping.

Serve with yogurt sauce or tzatziki. I made a tzatziki yogurt sauce with Greek yogurt, cucumbers, dill and House seasoning.

The ResultsOh. My. Falafel. Best randomly smooshed together creation. Ever. This would probably be great with chickpeas and the curry instead of the usual Greek spices, also. Seriously good though. It's kind of meatier texture-wise than regular falafel, because the black-eyed peas are stronger than chickpeas. Maybe next New Year's Day we'll have this meal instead of Hoppin' John.

What's your favorite "fusion" dish? That sounds snooty and hipster, but there's really not a better word for it other than "dish that mixes up two cultures into one meal."

This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Recipes I Can't Wait to Try, What's Cooking Wednesday, No Whine Wednesday, What's on Your Plate?, Crock pot Wednesday, Let's Do Brunch, Works for me Wednesday, Watcha Makin' Wednesday, Gold Star Wednesday, No Whine Wednesday, Cookbook Sundays and What's for Lunch Wednesday.